Beau Nickal has future champion written all over his body. But how long does it take for a good candidate to complete their story?
The three-time collegiate wrestling champion burst onto the MMA scene in 2022 and has since gone 6-0 with all of his bouts ending in knockout or submission. Knickal made it through the opening round at UFC 300 last Saturday, defeating Cody Brundage with a rear-naked choke in the second round.
Knickal was clearly disappointed with his subsequent performance, and there is ongoing debate about how the UFC should book him going forward. Former UFC champions Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman spoke about Nikal’s potential on a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, and both men weighed in on how many fights Nikal needs to fight before contending for the UFC title. I told you my predictions.
“He says, ‘If you’re lucky enough to get a call to fight me, just say thank you and sign that contract,'” Cejudo said. “I’m telling you, Bo, if you’re disappointed in your performance, don’t put that pressure on me, because to be honest, I believe you can be a future champion at 185 pounds, but you haven’t.” Because I’m not ready for that” Top 10.If you can put them up against a big body like Marvin Vettori, they have good jiu-jitsu, they’re big guys, they can wrestle, even guys like Paolo Borracinha. [Costa] — He’s not ready to break into the top 10 yet. So I think he needs to go three rounds at 185 pounds.
“He needs to understand that threshold, because he’s still winning and beating them very early on. If you want to be a champion, you can actually go five rounds against a guy like Sean Strickland. How would you feel if you fought?” Paolo: “Borracinha?” Robert Whittaker? Jared Cannonier? This division is definitely stacked. I think he needs to hold the horse. I think he probably still has about 10 fights left until he becomes UFC champion. ”
Usman balked at the suggestion that Nikkal had reached double digits in fights on his way to becoming a contender.
“We’re definitely less than 10 fights apart,” Usman said. “If he continues to develop at this rate, he’ll definitely be in the mix in two years. I think he’ll be there for the next four games.”
“I know it’s fleeting,” Usman continued. “We know it’s about that moment. He goes into the game just like his last game — not last weekend, but the game before that — he goes into the game just like his last game — not last weekend, but the game before that. Come out and give us two more of those moments, yeah, he’s definitely the favorite to win. Two or three of those moments, one of our ranked opponents disposes of them in the first round. And was it a huge knockout? He would definitely be on his way to the title.”
Cejudo slightly revised his prediction to six games, but still predicted he could be away from Nickal for at least three years.
One thing Cejudo and Usman strongly agree on is that Nikkal needs to cut through the noise and focus on improving his skill set.
“He stayed calm, but I think he needs to focus on improving,” Usman said. “If you keep improving, you’ll definitely get there. What this guy does, what this guy doesn’t do, what this guy says, or whether I please the fans with a crazy knockout in the first round. Stop worrying about what’s going on. Who says ***? Just go out there and improve every day.”
